OSAMA — or his audio impersonator — is having a bad war. Today his offer of truce blew up in his face:

“It is completely unthinkable that we could start negotiations with bin Laden. Everyone understands that,” Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told reporters.

European Commission President Romano Prodi said there could be no negotiating under a “terrorist threat.” (Analysis)

Leaders in France and Germany also rejected any such offer.

“One has to treat such claims by al Qaeda with contempt, which they deserve,” Britain’s Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said. “This is a murderous organization which seeks impossible objectives by the most violent means.”

In Spain, where al Qaeda terrorists killed 190 people in train bombings last month, the prime-minister elect did not mention the tape in an address to parliament, but vowed to fight terrorism.

“There is no sense to terrorism. There is no policy in terrorism. There is just terror, death, blackmail,” said incoming Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

In Washington, Secretary of State Colin Powell called the European reaction “very direct and clear.”

Indeed it is.